Since its premiere, MTV has had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ
was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music
was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and shows, films and books.

Numerous events led to the debut of MTV: Music Television in
1981, which itself was remembered through reintroduction as a historic
moment in music and popular culture. After MTV's debut, other networks
took notice and launched similar projects.

MTV's pre-history began in 1977, when Warner Cable (a division of Warner Communications, and an ancestor of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (WASEC) launched the first two-way interactivecable TV system, QUBE, in Columbus, Ohio. The QUBE system offered many specialized channels. One of these specialized channels was Sight On Sound,
a music channel that featured concert footage and music oriented TV
programs; with the interactive QUBE service, viewers could vote for
their favorite songs and artists.

The original programming format of MTV was created by the visionary media executive, Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer of MTV Networks.[3] Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, on WNBC in the late 1970s.

Pittman's boss, WASEC Executive Vice President John Lack, had shepherded a TV series called PopClips, created by former Monkee-turned solo artist Michael Nesmith, the latter of whom by the late 1970s was turning his attention to the music video format.[4] The inspiration for PopClips came from a similar program on New Zealand's TVNZ network, Radio with Pictures, which premiered in 1976. The concept itself had been in the works since 1966, when major record companies began supplying the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation with promotional music clips to play on the air at no charge. (Few artists made the long trip to New Zealand to appear live.)

Additionally, in the book The Mason Williams FCC Rapport, author Mason Williams states that he pitched an idea to CBS
for a television program that featured "video-radio," where disc
jockeys would play avant-garde art pieces set to music on the air. CBS
cancelled the idea, but Williams premiered his own musical composition,
"Classical Gas," on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,
where he was head writer. The book in which this claim is made was
first published in 1971, ten years before MTV first came on the air.

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV: Music Television launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching guitar riff written by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. With the flag having a picture of MTVs logo on it. MTV producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert used this public domain footage as a conceit, associating MTV with the most famous moment in world television history.[5] Seibert said they had originally planned to use Neil Armstrong's
"One small step" quote, but lawyers said Armstrong owns his name and
likeness, and Armstrong had refused, so the quote was replaced with a
beeping sound.[6] At the moment of its launch, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it.[7]

Appropriately, the first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. The second video shown was Pat Benatar's "You Better Run". Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR.[8]
Video of the launch of MTV was uploaded onto YouTube in 2009, with the
original commercials, and the "black screens" between videos. The "MTV
lettering" differed on its first day, and included record label
information like year and label name.[9]

As programming chief, Robert W. Pittman recruited and managed a team for the launch that included Tom Freston (who succeeded Pittman as CEO of MTV networks), Fred Seibert, John Sykes, Carolyn Baker (original head of talent and acquisition),[10] Marshall Cohen (original head of research),[11]Gail Sparrow (of talent and acquisition), Sue Steinberg (executive producer),[12] Julian Goldberg, Steve Casey (creator of the name MTV and its first program director),[13] Marcy Brafman, Ronald E. "Buzz" Brindle, and Robert Morton.[13]

HBO also had a 30 minute program of music videos, called Video Jukebox,
that first aired around the time of MTV's launch and would last until
late 1986. Also around this time, HBO would occasionally play one or a
few music videos between movies.[citation needed]

SuperStation WTBS launched Night Tracks
on June 3, 1983, with up to 14 hours of music video airplay each late
night weekend by 1985. Its most noticeable difference was that black
artists received airplay that MTV initially ignored. The program ran
until the end of May 1992. A few markets also launched music-only
channels; most notably Las Vegas' KVMY Channel 21, which debuted in the summer of 1984 as KRLR-TV Vusic 21. The first video played on that channel was Michael Jackson's "Thriller."[citation needed]

Shortly after TBS began Night Tracks, NBC launched its music video program called Friday Night Videos which was considered network television's answer to MTV. Later renamed simply Friday Night,
the program ran from 1983 to 2002, at which time it was replaced by
other programming. ABC's contribution to the music video program genre
in 1984, ABC Rocks, was far less successful, lasting only a year.[citation needed]

TBS founder Ted Turner started the Cable Music Channel
in 1984, designed to play a broader mix of music videos than MTV's rock
format allowed. But after one month as a money-losing venture, Turner
sold it to MTV, who would redevelop the channel into VH1.[14]

The original purpose of MTV was to be "Music Television," playing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, guided by on-air personalities known as VJs,
or video jockeys. The original taglines of the channel were "You'll
never look at music the same way again," and "On cable. In stereo."
Although the concept of playing music videos 24/7 has long been
abandoned, MTV still promotes and plays a limited selection of music
videos on its TV channel and website.

The early music videos that made up the bulk of MTV's programming in
the 1980s were often crude promotional or concert clips from whatever
sources could be found. As the popularity of the channel rose, and
record companies recognized the potential of the medium as a tool to
gain recognition and publicity, they began to create increasingly
elaborate clips specifically for the channel.[citation needed]

During MTV's first few years on the air, very few black artists were included in rotation on the channel. Those who were in MTV's rotation included Eddy Grant, Tina Turner and Donna Summer. The very first non-white act played on MTV in the US was UK band The Specials,
which featured an integrated line-up of white and black musicians and
vocalists. The Specials' video "Rat Race" was played as the 58th video
on the station's first day of broadcasting.[24]

MTV rejected other black artists' videos, such as Rick James' "Super Freak,"
because they didn't fit the channel's rock dominated format at the
time. The exclusion enraged James; he publicly advocated the addition
of more black artists' videos on the channel. Rock legend David Bowie also questioned MTV's lack of black artists during an on-air interview with VJ Mark Goodman in 1983.[25]
MTV's original head of talent and acquisition, Carolyn B. Baker, who
was black, had questioned why the definition of music had to be so
narrow, as had a few others.

Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled to receive airtime on MTV.[26] To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president of CBS Records at the time, Walter Yetnikoff,
denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away
MTV's ability to play any of the record label's music videos.[26][27] However, Les Garland, then acquisitions head, said he decided to air Jackson's "Billie Jean" video without pressure from CBS.[25] This was contradicted by CBS head of Business Affairs David Benjamin in Vanity Fair.[6]
In any case, MTV began showing the "Billie Jean" video in regular
rotation in 1983, forming a lengthy partnership with Jackson and
helping other black music artists.[28]

According to The Austin Chronicle,
Jackson's video for the song "Billie Jean" was "the video that broke
the color barrier, even though the channel itself was responsible for
erecting that barrier in the first place."[29]
After airing Jackson's music videos, MTV, then a struggling cable
channel, became very popular. Jackson's videos were credited for this
success[30] and MTV's focus switched from rock to pop and R&B.[28] This move helped other black artists such as Prince, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson break into heavy rotation on the channel. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard
magazine commented Janet Jackson's "accessible sound and spectacularly
choreographed videos were irresistible to MTV, and helped the channel
evolve from rock programming to a broader, beat-driven musical mix."[31]

As early as 1983, because of MTV's visibility as a promotional tool for the recording industry,
the channel was accused of devaluing the importance of music, replacing
quality with a purely visual aesthetic and shunning equally popular but
less image-centric or single-based acts. That year, Rolling Stone's Steven Levy
wrote, "MTV's greatest achievement has been to coax rock & roll
into the video arena where you can't distinguish between entertainment
and the sales pitch."[32] One musician that also criticized MTV for these reasons was Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys; the band released a song in 1985 titled "MTV, Get Off The Air."
Various groups and individuals since then have criticized MTV for
similar reasons, insisting that the channel has a responsibility as
"Music Television" to play more music videos and uphold better critical
standards for the music videos that they choose to feature in rotation.

MTV introduced 120 Minutes in 1986, a show that would feature low-rotation, alternative rock and other "underground" videos for the next 14 years on MTV and three additional years on sister channel MTV2. The program then became known as Subterranean on MTV2.

Another after hours show was added in 1987, Headbangers Ball.
This popular show featured heavy metal music and news. Before its
abrupt cancellation in 1995, it featured several hosts, notably Riki Rachtman and Adam Curry. Headbangers Ball remains an iconic identifier of heavy metal music. A weekly block of music videos with the name Headbangers Ball has aired since 2003 on sister channel MTV2.

In 1988, MTV debuted Yo! MTV Raps, a hip-hop/rap formatted program. The program continued until August 1995. It was renamed to simply Yo! and played for one hour from 1995 until 1999. The concept was reintroduced as Direct Effect in 2000, which became Sucker Free in 2006 and was cancelled in 2008, after briefly celebrating the 20th anniversary of Yo! MTV Raps throughout the months of April and May 2008. Despite its cancellation on MTV, a weekly countdown of hip-hop videos known as Sucker Free still airs on MTV2.

Around the end of the decade, in 1989, MTV began to premiere music-based specials such as MTV Unplugged,
an acoustic performance show, which has featured dozens of acts as its
guests and has remained active in numerous iterations on various
platforms for over 20 years.

By the beginning of the 1990s, the channel debuted Dial MTV, a daily top ten music video countdown show for which viewers could call the toll-free telephone number1-800-DIAL-MTV to request a music video. Although Dial MTV was short-lived, the phone number remained in use for video requests until 2006.

As the PBS series Frontline
explored, MTV was a driving force that catapulted music videos to a
mainstream audience, turning music videos into an art form as well as a
marketing machine that became beneficial to artists. Danny Goldberg, chairman and CEO of Artemis Records, said the following about the art of music videos: "I know when I worked with Nirvana, Kurt Cobain
cared as much about the videos as he did about the records. He wrote
the scripts for them, he was in the editing room, and they were part of
his art. And I think they stand up as part of his art, and I think
that's true of the great artists today. Not every artist is a great
artist and not every video is a good video, but in general having it
available as a tool, to me, adds to the business. And I wish there had
been music videos in the heyday of the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. I think they would've added to their creative contribution, not subtracted from it."[33]
The Beatles did produce music videos specifically for television
broadcast once their massive popularity made it less practical for them
to appear in person.

Also by 1997, MTV was criticized heavily for not playing as many
music videos as it had in the past. In response, MTV created four shows
that centered around music videos: MTV Live, Total Request, Say What?, and 12 Angry Viewers. Also at this time, MTV introduced its new studios in Times Square. A year later, in 1998, MTV merged Total Request and MTV Live into a live daily top ten countdown show, Total Request Live, which would become known as TRL and secure its place as the channel's unofficial flagship program.

The original host of TRL, Carson Daly, brought popularity to the show. TRL
spent its first year developing a cult-type following, and every
weekday, hundreds of fans would stand in Times Square outside the TRL
studios. In the fall of 1999, a live studio audience was added to the
show. By spring 2000, the countdown reached its peak, becoming a
recognizable icon of popular culture in its first two years of
existence. The program enjoyed success playing the top ten pop, rock,
R&B, and hip-hop music videos.

On September 11, 2001, when the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon occurred, MTV suspended all of its programming along with its sister cable channel VH1, and it began simulcasting the CBS News
coverage from its then-sister network until about 11:00 p.m. that
night. The channels then played a looped set of music videos without
commercial interruption until an MTV News special edition of TRL aired on September 14, 2001.

In 2002, Carson Daly left MTV and TRL to pursue a late-night talk show on NBC; after his departure, the relevance and impact of Total Request Live slowly diminished. TRL
ultimately remained a part of MTV's regular program schedule for ten
years. The series came to an end with a special finale episode, Total Finale Live,
which aired November 16, 2008, and featured many special guests from
the history of the show and playing its last music video, ...Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.[34]

Beginning in late 1997, MTV progressively reduced its airing of rock
music videos, leading to the slogan among skeptics, "Rock is dead."[35]
The break-up of some key bands and the declining sales of other acts
that put out artistic and commercial flops were cited as reasons that
MTV abandoned its once staple music. MTV instead devoted its musical
airtime mostly to pop and hip-hop/R&B music. All rock-centric shows
were eliminated and the rock-related categories of the Video Music Awards were pared down to one.

From this time until 2004, MTV took some efforts periodically to
reintroduce pop rock music videos to the channel. By 1998 through 1999,
the pop punk band Blink-182 received regular airtime on MTV due in large part to their "All the Small Things" video that made fun of the boy bands that MTV was airing at the time. Meanwhile, some rock bands that were not receiving MTV support, such as Korn and Creed, continued to sell albums. Then, upon the release of Korn's rock/rap hybrid album Follow the Leader, MTV began playing Korn's videos "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash", which became popular.

Around 1999 through 2001, as MTV aired fewer music videos throughout
the day, it regularly aired compilation specials from its then 20-year
history to look back on its roots. An all-encompassing special, MTV Uncensored, premiered in 1999 and was later released as a book.[36][37]

MTV celebrated its 20th anniversary on August 1, 2001, beginning with a 12-hour retrospective called MTV20: Buggles to Bizkit,
which featured over 100 classic videos played chronologically, hosted
by various VJs in reproductions of MTV's old studios. The day of
programming culminated in a 3-hour celebratory live event called MTV20: Live and Almost Legal, which was hosted by Carson Daly and featured numerous guests from MTV's history, including the original VJs from 1981. Various other related MTV20 specials aired in the months surrounding the event.

Janet Jackson became the inaugural honoree of the "mtvICON"
award, "an annual recognition of artists who have made significant
contributions to music, music video and pop culture while tremendously
impacting the MTV generation."[38] Subsequent recipients included Aerosmith, Metallica, and The Cure.

Five years later, on August 1, 2006, MTV celebrated its 25th
anniversary. On their website, MTV.com, visitors could watch the very
first hour of MTV, including airing the original promos and commercials
from Mountain Dew, Atari, Chewels gum, and Jovan. Videos were also shown from The Buggles, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart,
and others. The introduction of the first five VJs was also shown.
Additionally, MTV.com put together a "yearbook" consisting of the
greatest videos of each year from 1981 to 2006. MTV itself only
mentioned the anniversary once on TRL.

Despite targeted efforts to play certain types of music videos in
limited rotation, MTV greatly reduced its overall rotation of music
videos throughout the first decade of the 2000s. While music videos
were featured on MTV up to eight hours per day in 2000, the year 2008
saw an average of just three hours of music videos per day on MTV. The
rise of the Internet as a convenient outlet for the promotion and
viewing of music videos signaled this reduction.[39]

As the decade progressed, MTV continued to play some music videos instead of relegating them exclusively to its sister channels, but around this time, the channel began to air music videos only in the early morning hours or in a condensed form on Total Request Live. As a result of these programming changes, Justin Timberlake challenged MTV to "play more damn videos!" while giving an acceptance speech at the 2007 Video Music Awards.[40]

Despite the challenge from Timberlake, MTV continued to decrease its
total rotation time for music videos in 2007, and the channel
eliminated its long-running special tags for music videos such as
"Buzzworthy" (for under-represented artists), "Breakthrough" (for
visually stunning videos), and "Spankin' New" (for brand new videos).
Additionally, the historic Kabel
typeface, which MTV displayed at the beginning and end of all music
videos since 1981, was phased out in favor of larger text and less
information about the video's record label and director. The classic
font can still be seen on videos airing on MTV Jams, and in "prechyroned" versions of old videos on sister network VH1 Classic, which had their title information recorded onto the same tape as the video itself.

For most of 2008, MTV's main source of music video programming was still Total Request Live, airing four times per week, featuring short clips of music videos along with VJs and guests. TRL aired its last episode in November 2008.[41] A hip-hop music video show, Sucker Free, also ended earlier in 2008.

The FNMTV Premieres event ended before the 2008 Video Music Awards
in September. With the exception of a holiday themed episode in
December 2008 and an unrelated Spring Break special in March 2009 with
the same title, FNMTV Premieres never returned, leaving MTV without any VJ-hosted music video programs for the first time in its history.

On most weekdays during the rest of 2008, a music video block called FNMTV
aired in the early morning hours. It consisted of abbreviated clips of
music videos, approximately 60 seconds each. MTV cancelled the early
morning FNMTV block in January 2009, replacing it with encore airings of other programs.

Music video programming returned to MTV in March 2009 as AMTV,
an early morning block of music videos that originally aired from 3
a.m. to 9 a.m. on most weekdays (now airs daily as of the week of
3/8/10; see AMTV for current schedule).[43] Unlike the FNMTV block that preceded it, AMTV
features many full-length music videos, including some older videos
that have been out of regular rotation for many years on MTV; it also
features music news updates, interviews, and performances.[43]

During the rest of the day, MTV also plays excerpts from music videos, usually the hook, in split screen format during the closing credits
of most programs, along with the address of a website to encourage the
viewer to watch the full video online. MTV has positioned its website,
MTV.com, as one of its primary destinations for music videos (see Beyond MTV, below, for more information about MTV.com and the channel's related Internet ventures).

MTV launched its newest live talk show, It's On with Alexa Chung, on June 15, 2009. The host of the program, Alexa Chung, has been described as a "younger, more Web 2.0" version of Jimmy Fallon.[44] Although it is filmed in the same Times Square studio where TRL used to be located, the network stated that "the only thing the two shows have in common is the studio location."[45]It's On
was cancelled at the end of 2009, which again eliminated the only live
in-studio programming from MTV's schedule, just one year after TRL was also cancelled.

Shortly after music and pop culture icon Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate his work.[46]
The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by
live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other
celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the
following week with the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial
service.[47]

MTV again resurrected the long-running series MTV Unplugged in 2009 with performances from acts such as Adele, Katy Perry, and Paramore.[48] However, unlike past Unplugged
specials, these new recordings usually only air in their entirety on
MTV's website, MTV.com. Nevertheless, short clips of the specials are
shown on MTV during the AMTV block of music videos in the early morning hours. By the end of 2009 and beginning of 2010, the 8 a.m. hour of AMTV was broadened to include live sets such as Unplugged and other music-related programs.

As MTV expanded, music videos were no longer the centerpiece of its
programming. Conventional TV shows came to replace the VJ-guided music
video programming. Today, MTV presents a wide variety of
non-music-related television shows aimed primarily at the 12 to 34 year
old demographic.

In 1984, the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards
show, or VMAs. Perceived by some as a fit of self-indulgence by a
fledgling network at the time, the VMAs developed into a music-industry
showcase marketed as a more relevant youth-targeted antidote to the Grammy awards. The first award show, in 1984, was punctuated by a live performance by Madonna of "Like A Virgin."

MTV added the MTV Movie Awards in 1992 with similar success. MTV also created an award show for Europe after the success of the VMAs. The MTV Europe Music Awards, or the EMAs, were created in 1994, ten years after the debut of the VMAs.

In 1985, Viacom bought Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which owned MTV and Nickelodeon, renaming the company MTV Networks
and beginning this expansion. Before 1987, MTV featured almost
exclusively music videos, but as time passed, they introduced a variety
of other shows, including some that were originally intended for other
channels.

Non-music video programming began in the late 1980s with the introduction of a music news show The Week in Rock, which was also the beginning of MTV's news division, MTV News. Around this time, MTV also introduced a dance show, Club MTV, and a game show, Remote Control.

These new shows would be just the beginning of new genres of shows
to impact MTV. As the format of the network continued to evolve, more
genres of shows began to appear. In the early 1990s, MTV debuted its
first reality shows, The Real World and Road Rules.

In a continuing bid to become a more diverse network, focusing on
youth and culture, as well as music, MTV introduced animated shows to
its line-up in the early 1990s. The animation showcase Liquid Television
(originally a BBC import, later acquired and produced by MTV) was one
of the networks first programs to focus on the medium. In addition to
airing original shows created specifically for MTV, the network also
occasionally aired episodes of original cartoon series created by
sister-station Nickelodeon (Nicktoons) in the early 1990s.

Some of the reality shows on the network also followed the lives of musicians. The Osbournes, a reality show based on the everyday life of Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon, and two of their children, Jack and Kelly,
premiered on MTV in 2002. The show went on to become one of the
network's biggest-ever success stories and was also recognized for the
heavy use of bleeped profanity by the Osbourne family members.[49] It also kick-started a musical career for Kelly Osbourne,[50] while Sharon Osbourne went on to host her own self-titled talk show on U.S. television.[51] Ozzy Osbourne announced that production for his show would cease in November 2004.[52] In the fall of 2004, Ozzy Osbourne's reality show Battle for Ozzfest aired; the show hosted competitions between bands vying to play as part of Ozzfest, a yearly heavy metal music tour across the United States hosted by Osbourne.

In 2003, MTV added Punk'd, a project by Ashton Kutcher to play pranks on various celebrities, and Pimp My Ride, a show about adding aesthetic and functional modifications to cars and other vehicles. Another popular show was Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a reality TV show that followed the lives of pop singers Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey,
a music celebrity couple. It began in 2003, ran for four seasons. and
ended in early 2005. The couple later divorced. The success of Newlyweds was followed in June 2004 by The Ashlee Simpson Show, which documented the beginnings of the music career of Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson's younger sister.

In addition to reality and talk shows, MTV expanded its programming
focus in 2009 to include scripted comedy programs. The channel was
reported to be developing a number of scripted half-hour projects,
including an animated series and five additional pilots.[62] With backlash towards what some consider too much superficial content on the network, a recent New York Times
article also stated the intention of MTV to shift its focus towards
more socially conscious media, which the article labels, "MTV for the Obama era."[63] Shows in that vein included T.I.'s Road to Redemption and Fonzworth Bentley's finishing school show From G’s to Gents. Another reality show entited The Buried Life,
which is about four friends traveling across the country to check off a
list of "100 things to do before I die" and help others along the way,
was another example of MTV's revised programming focus.

MTV shifted its focus back to Real World-style reality programming in late 2009 with the premiere of Jersey Shore, which brought unprecedented ratings success to the channel and also caused controversy due to some of its content (see Jersey Shore controversy, below).[64]

MTV's logo, the large block letter "M" with graffiti-style letters
"TV" superimposed and the words "Music Television" underneath, quickly
became ubiquitous and instantly recognizable in popular culture. The
last three decades have brought some change and evolution to MTV's
iconic image and branding.

Throughout MTV's early days, the channel's main logo was a large
yellow "M" with red letters "TV," but unlike most networks' logos, the
MTV logo constantly morphed and adapted with different colors,
patterns, and images filling in the large block letter. The very first
moments of MTV after the "moon landing," as well as the top of every
hour until at least the mid-1980s, featured a rapidly changing station ID
logo that changed its appearance several times per second. The only
constant aspects of MTV's logo at the time were its general shape and
proportions; everything else was dynamic.[65]

The channel's most popular image and branding campaign, "I want my MTV!,"
was launched in 1983 and featured known artists and celebrities
interacting with the MTV logo on-air, encouraging viewers to call their
cable or satellite providers and request that MTV be added to their
local channel lineups.[65]

MTV's original 1981 and revised 2010 logos both feature dynamic patterns and images

Once MTV's original morphing logo had run its course, the channel
began to use a solid color white logo that was otherwise the same as
the original. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, MTV updated its
on-air appearance at the beginning of every year and again each summer,
creating a consistent brand across all of its music-related shows. This
style of channel-wide branding came to an end as MTV drastically
reduced its number of music-related shows in the early to mid-2000s. At
this time, MTV introduced a static, single-color digital on-screen graphic during all of its other programming.

Since the premiere of the short-lived FNMTV in 2008, MTV has
used a revised, chopped version of its traditional logo during most of
its on-air programming. The revised logo is largely the same as MTV's
original logo, but it excludes the "Music Television" caption, the
bottom section of the "M" block letter, and the trailing letter "V"
that branched off to the side of the original logo.[66]
However, much like the ever-changing patterns that filled MTV's
original 1981 logo, the new 2010 logo is designed to be filled in with
an unlimited variety of pictures and images. This new logo formally
became MTV's official brand mark on February 8, 2010, when it debuted
on MTV's website.[67] The channel's long-running official tagline "Music Television" was officially dropped at this time.[66]

MTV's near-ubiquitous presence in popular culture for over 25 years
has led the channel to be in the center of the ongoing debate over the
cultural and moral influence of music and television on young people
and society. The channel has thus found itself a target of criticism by
various groups about programming choices, social issues, political correctness, sensitivity, censorship, and a perceived negative moralinfluence on young people.[68]

The media watchdog group Parents Television Council,
which advocates family-friendly programming on television, has labeled
MTV as a group of "smut peddlers", claiming that the network puts a bad
influence on its targeted audience, based on research done in 2004 and
2005.[69][70]

Jeanette Kedas, an MTV network executive, called the PTC report
"unfair and inaccurate" and "underestimating young people's intellect
and level of sophistication", while L. Brent Bozell III, then-president of the PTC, stated that "the incessant sleaze on MTV presents the most compelling case yet for consumer cable choice," referring to the practice of cable and satellite companies to allow consumers to pay for channels à la carte.[71]

On the other side of the moral influence debate, MTV has also come under criticism for being too politically correct and sensitive, censoring too much of their programming. MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove references to drugs,[75]sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia, or advertising.[76] Many music videos aired on the channel were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

The debate over political correctness and sensitivity most popularly affected the 1990s animated program, Beavis and Butthead.
In the wake of controversy that followed a child burning down his house
after allegedly watching the show, MTV moved the program from its
original 7 p.m. time slot to a late-night, 11 p.m. slot. Also, Beavis'
tendency to flick a lighter and scream the word "fire" was removed from new episodes, and controversial scenes were removed from existing episodes before rebroadcast.[80] Some years later, the creators of Jackass
also felt that MTV's producers did not let the show run its free course
due to the excessive restraints placed on the show's creative team.

MTV was selected to produce the halftime show in 2001 for Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida, in which the bands 'N Sync and Aerosmith performed.[81]
Due to its success, MTV was invited back to produce another Super Bowl
halftime show, which would spark a moral influence debate and lead to
sweeping changes in Super Bowl halftime shows, MTV's own programming,
and even music played on the radio.

In 2004, MTV produced the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXVIII, with performances by such artists as Nelly, Diddy, Janet Jackson, and Justin Timberlake. CBS,
then a sister company of MTV and who had aired the 2001 halftime show,
aired the Super Bowl as well as the halftime show live on February 1,
2004. However, the show became controversial after Timberlake tore off
part of Jackson's outfit while performing his hit song "Rock Your Body" with her, revealing her right breast. All involved parties apologized for the incident, and Timberlake referred to the incident as a "wardrobe malfunction."[82]

Michael Powell, then-chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, ordered an investigation of the show the day after its broadcast.[82]
In the weeks following the controversial halftime show, MTV censored
much of its programming. Several music videos, including "This Love" by
Maroon 5 and "I Miss You" by Blink-182, were edited for sexual content.[79] In September 2004, the FCC ruled that the halftime show was indecent and fined CBS $550,000.[83] The FCC upheld its decision in 2006,[84] but federal judges reversed the fine in 2008.[85]

MTV received a significant amount of criticism from Italian American organizations for the show Jersey Shore, which premiered in December 2009.[86]
The controversy was due in large part to the manner in which MTV
marketed the show, as it liberally used the word Guido to describe the
cast members. The word Guido is generally regarded as an ethnic slur
when referring to Italians and Italian Americans. One promotion stated
that the show was to follow, "eight of the hottest, tannest, craziest
Guidos",[87]
while yet another advertisement stated, “[the show] exposes one of the
tri-state area's most misunderstood species... the GUIDO. Yes, they
really do exist! Our Guidos and Guidettes will move into the ultimate
beach house rental and indulge in everything the Seaside Heights, New
Jersey scene has to offer".[88]

Prior to the series debut, UNICO National (which is the largest Italian American organization) formally requested that MTV cancel the show.[89] In a letter to the network, UNICO called the show a "...direct, deliberate and disgraceful attack on Italian Americans..."[90]
UNICO National President Andre DiMino said in a statement "MTV has
festooned the 'bordello-like' house set with Italian flags and red,
white and green maps of New Jersey while every other cutaway shot is of
Italian signs and symbols. They are blatantly as well as subliminally
bashing Italian-Americans with every technique possible..."[91] Around this time, other Italian organizations joined the fight, including the NIAF,[92] the Order Sons of Italy in America and the internet watch-dog.[93][94]

MTV responded to the controversy by issuing a press release which
stated in part, "the Italian-American cast takes pride in their
ethnicity. We understand that this show is not intended for every
audience and depicts just one aspect of youth culture."[95]
Since the calls for the show's removal, several sponsors have requested
that their ads not be aired during the show. These sponsors include
Dell, Domino's and American Family Insurance.[96]
Despite the loss of certain advertisers, MTV has not canceled the show.
Moreover, the show has seen its audience gradually increase from its
premiere in December 2009.

In addition to its regular programming, MTV has a long history of promoting social, political, and environmental activism in young people. The channel's vehicles for this activism have been Choose or Lose, encompassing political causes and encouraging viewers to vote in elections; Fight For Your Rights, encompassing anti-violence and anti-discrimination causes; and think MTV, the newest umbrella for all of MTV's social activism.

In 1992, MTV started a pro-democracy campaign called Choose or Lose, to encourage up to 20 million people to register to vote, and the channel hosted a town hall forum for then-candidate Bill Clinton.[97]

In recent years, other politically diverse programs on MTV have included True Life, which documents people's lives and problems, and MTV News
specials, which center on very current events in both the music
industry and the world. One special show covered the 2004 U.S.
Presidential election, airing programs focused on the issues and
opinions of young people, including a program where viewers could ask
questions of SenatorJohn Kerry.[98] MTV worked with P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign, designed to encourage young people to vote.[99]

Additionally, MTV aired a documentary covering a trip by the musical group Sum 41 to the Democratic Republic of Congo,
documenting the conflict there. The group ended up being caught in the
midst of an attack outside of the hotel and were subsequently flown out
of the country.[100]

In the 1990s and early 2000s, MTV promoted annual campaigns known as Fight For Your Rights, with the slogan "Speak Out/Stand Up Against Violence", to bring forth awareness on America's crime, drugs and violence issues.

On April 6, 2001, MTV voluntarily ceased regular programming for 24 hours as part of the year's hate crimes awareness campaign. On that night, MTV aired a made-for-TV movie Anatomy of a Hate Crime, based on a true story of the 1998 murder of 21-year old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student. After the film and a discussion, MTV went dark and showed names of hate crime victims.

MTV's most recent activism campaign is think MTV, which discusses current political issues such as same-sex marriage, U.S. elections, and war in other countries. The slogan of the program is "Reflect. Decide. Do." As part of think MTV, the channel also airs a series of pro-conservation ads called Break The Addiction, as a way of encouraging their viewers to find ways to use less fossil fuels and energy.

Since its launch in 1981, the brand "MTV" has expanded to include
many additional properties beyond the original MTV channel, including a
variety of sister channels in the U.S., dozens of affiliated channels
around the world, and an Internet presence through MTV.com and related
websites.

MTV operates a group of channels under the name MTV Networks, a division of its corporate parent, Viacom. In 1985, MTV saw the introduction of its first true sister channel, VH1, which was originally an acronym for "Video Hits One" and was designed to play adult contemporary music videos. Today, VH1 is aimed at celebrity and popular culture programming. Another sister channel, CMT, targets the country music and southern culture market.

MTV Networks also operates Palladia, a high-definition
channel that features original HD programming and HD versions of
programs from MTV, VH1, and CMT. The station was launched in January
2006 as MHD (Music: High Definition). The channel was officially rebranded as Palladia on September 1, 2008 to coincide with the shift to more exclusive HD programming.[103]

In 2005 and 2006, MTV launched a series of channels for Asian Americans. The first channel was MTV Desi, launched in July 2005, dedicated toward South-Asian Americans. Next was MTV Chi, in December 2005, which catered to Chinese Americans. The third was MTV K,
launched in June 2006 and targeted toward Korean Americans. Each of
these channels featured music videos and shows from MTV's international
affiliates as well as original U.S. programming, promos, and packaging.
All three of these channels ceased broadcasting on April 30, 2007.

In the late 1980s, before the World Wide Web, in the days of the Gopher protocol, MTV VJ Adam Curry began experimenting on the Internet. He registered the then-unclaimed domain name
"MTV.com" in 1993 with the idea of being MTV's unofficial new voice on
the Internet. Although this move was sanctioned by his supervisors at
MTV Networks at the time, when Curry left to start his own web-portal
design and hosting company, MTV subsequently sued him for the domain
name, which led to an out-of-court settlement.[104]

The service hosted at the domain name was originally branded "MTV
Online" during MTV's first few years of control over it in the
mid-1990s. It served as a counterpart to the America Online portal for MTV content, which existed at AOL keyword MTV until approximately the end of the 1990s. After this time, the website became known as simply "MTV.com" and served as the Internet home base for all MTV and MTV News content.

MTV.com experimented with entirely video-based layouts between 2005 and 2007. The experiment began in April 2005 as MTV Overdrive, a streaming video service that supplemented the regular MTV.com website.[105] Shortly after the 2006 Video Music Awards, which were streamed on MTV.com and heavily utilized the MTV Overdrive features, MTV introduced a massive change for MTV.com, transforming the entire site into a Flash video-based entity.[106]
Much of users' feedback about the Flash-based site was negative,
demonstrating a dissatisfaction with videos that played automatically,
commercials that could not be skipped or stopped, and the slower speed
of the entire website. The experiment ended in February 2006 as MTV.com
reverted to a traditional HTML-based website design with embedded video clips, in the style of YouTube and other popular video-based websites.[107]

Today, MTV.com is still the official website of MTV, and it expands
on the channel's broadcasts by bringing additional content to its
viewers. The site's notable features include an online version of MTV News,
podcasts, and a video streaming service supported by commercials. There
are also movie features, profiles and interviews with recording artists
and from MTV's television programs.

The channel responded to the rise of the Internet as the new central place to watch music videos in October 2008 by launching MTV Music, a website that features thousands of music videos from MTV and VH1's video libraries, dating back to the earliest videos from 1981.

A newly created division of the company, MTV New Media, announced in
2008 that it would produce its own original web series, in an attempt
to create a bridge between old and new media.[108] The programming is available to viewers via personal computers, cell phones, iPods, and other digital devices.[109]